234. Agreement in accordance with Art. 15a B-VG on early language support in institutional childcare facilities for the kindergarten years 2015/16 to 2017/18

The Federal Government, represented by the Federal Government, represented by the Federal Minister for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs, and the Länder of Burgenland, Carinthia, Lower Austria, Upper Austria, Salzburg, Styria, Tyrol, Vorarlberg and Vienna, respectively. represented by the Landeshauptmann, hereinafter referred to as the Contracting Parties, have agreed to conclude the following agreement pursuant to Art. 15a of the Federal Constitutional Law:

Article 1

Objectives

(1) Three-to six-year-old children in institutional childcare facilities who have a lack of German language skills, in particular those with a different first language than German, are to be promoted in such a way that they are admitted to the first School level of the elementary school the language of instruction German according to the "Education standards for speaking and language competence at the beginning of compulsory schooling" as proficient as possible. The establishment of a possible language support needs in the institutional childcare facilities by kindergarten teachers, at most in cooperation with the heads of the primary schools and/or schools. other qualified personnel. Early language support is provided by kindergarten pedagogues and pedagogues. Other qualified staff, in addition to day-to-day support, to carry out age-appropriate, individual and playful activities.

(2) In the implementation of early language support, the national education framework programme for elementary educational institutions in Austria and the education plan-share of language support in elementary educational institutions shall be applied.

(3) The aim of early language support is to facilitate the entry into the primary school by means of continuous language support in the sense of an interface management, the educational opportunities of the children for the phase of entry into the school, or To optimize the school entry phase and to enable a better start into the education and working life.

(4) Early language support may be supplemented, where appropriate, in children with language support requirements, in order to support the development of other relevant development areas in accordance with Art. 2 Z 8 in order to support the overall development of children.

Article 2

Definitions

The following definitions shall apply to this Agreement:

1.		"Institutional Childcare Facilities" are public and private kindergartens and -cribs or similar institutions, as well as age-old groups, where private households are not in the private household, which are subject to the same conditions of admission and exclusion as the public generally accessible and not for profit, in-service kindergartens and nurseries as well as comparable facilities.
2.		The "kindergarten year" is the period between 1 September and 31 August of the following year.
3.		The "Education standards for speaking and language competence at the beginning of compulsory education" are those language skills which are to be given when entering the first school level of the primary school and by the then Federal Ministry for Education, Art and culture was created in collaboration with the Pedagogical University of Linz.
4.		The "training of kindergarten teachers" is the qualification to be carried out at the educational institutions for kindergarten pedagogy according to the current curriculum and the applicable examination regulations.
5.		The "continuing education and further training of kindergarten teachers" are those measures which are set at the universities of teacher education or comparable educational establishments respectively. shall be organised by the Länder, in particular the courses on qualification for early language support.
6.		The "language status determination" is the observation sheet for the registration of language competence in German of children with German as the first language (BESK 2.0), the observation sheet for the registration of the language competence in German of children with German as a Second language (BESK-DaZ 2.0) or a comparable instrument set up on a pedagogical and kindergarten pedagogical basis, which makes it possible to make a clear statement about the possible need for language support in the past.
7.		"early language support" means pedagogically supporting measures in the field of the teaching language of German, which are suitable for institutional childcare facilities in an appropriate (child-like, individual, more appropriate) language. In order to improve the educational opportunities in the school entry phase and to enable a better start into the education and working life.
8.		The "promotion of the state of development" is the promotion of certain development aspects, which are relevant for three to six-year-old children and for which empirical evidence shows that support measures are successful. These include motor skills, social emotional development, school precursor skills, area-specific knowledge and awareness-raising on multilingualism.
9.		The "Education Framework Plan" and the "Education Plan Share" are the nationwide education framework for elementary educational institutions in Austria and the education plan-Proportion for language support in elementary educational institutions (2009) the offices of the state governments of the Austrian federal states, the Magistrats of the City of Vienna and the then Federal Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture, worked out by the Charlotte-Bühler-Institute.
10.		The "number of effects" is the numerical value in order to reduce the demand for language support in the period of a kindergarten year, as measured by the number of children, according to the support measures implemented. The two test times at the beginning and at the end of the funding measures of a financial year are decisive for this purpose. In this case, the same group of people will test how many children with language support are required to promote further language support in the past. no longer need to be conveyed. The basis of this evaluation is the anonymized result collection.
11.		The "full-time equivalent" is the time value of a full-time worker within a comparable period of time.

Article 3

Early language support in institutional childcare facilities

(1) The Contracting Parties shall take the appropriate measures to control the language of instruction in cooperation between the institutional childcare facilities, schools, guardians and the federal authorities responsible for education and training. German according to the "Education standards for speaking and language competence at the beginning of compulsory schooling" by all children at the entrance to the first school level of the primary school as possible.

(2) The Federal Government shall, in particular,

1.		to provide the countries with appropriate language requirements in accordance with Art. 2 Z 6, which establish the language support requirements in the institutional childcare facilities;
2.		on the training of kindergarten teachers and teachers at the educational institutions for kindergarten pedagogics in the field of language status and early language support at the universities of teacher education or similar educational establishments and
3.		on the further development of curricula for a uniform qualification model for the special training, further and further training of kindergarten teachers in the field of language status and early language support the educational institution for kindergarten pedagogics, the educational colleges or similar educational institutions.

The Federal Ministry of Education and Women is responsible for the fulfilment of these obligations. The countries must be included in the fulfilment of the Z 2.

(3) Countries shall, in particular, undertake:

1.		carry out a language status determination in accordance with Art. 2 Z 6 at the beginning of each kindergarten year as far as possible;
2.		after the early language support has been carried out, but at least at the beginning of the following kindergarten year, the group of persons who have been given linguistic support as a result of the needs identified is once again in a position to determine the status of the language , This also applies to those persons who are already enrolled at the beginning of the following year, but which have been given linguistic support during the previous year of the kindergarten due to the needs identified;
3.		carry out the necessary early language support in the institutional childcare facilities in accordance with the "Education standards for speaking and language competence at the beginning of compulsory education";
4.		Recommend the special education, training and further education measures of the federal government at the universities of teacher education and comparable educational institutions to the kindergarten teachers;
5.		the necessary, if necessary, the language of instruction which supports the language of instruction in accordance with Art. 2 Z 8 in the institutional childcare facilities as an additional measure for the regular operation in accordance with the provisions of the Concept template (Art. 5) should be carried out.

(4) The Contracting Parties shall apply the Education Framework for Institutional Childcare and the Education Plan share in accordance with Article 1 (2).

Article 4

Federal purpose grant

(1) The total cost incurred in the implementation of the measures in this Agreement shall be divided between the Federal Government and the Länder in proportion to one to one, and any contributions from municipalities may be attributed to the share of the country concerned. In the context of § § 12 and 13 F-VG 1948, the Federal Government's special purpose grant amounts to a maximum of 20 million euros in the 2015/16, 2016/17 and 2017/18 kindergarten years. This is to be divided among the countries as follows:

1. Burgenland	3,386%
2. Carinthia	5.638%
3. Lower Austria	19.265%
4. Upper Austria	16.331%
5. Salzburg	5.953%
6. Steiermark	10.865%
7. Tirol	8.389%
8. Vorarlberg	4.887%
9. Vienna	25.286%

(2) In the Kindergarten years 2015/16, 2016/17 and 2017/18, up to 25 per cent of the special purpose grants awarded to each federal state may be used, if necessary, by the special purpose grants provided for in paragraph 1, if necessary, to ensure that, in addition to the language of instruction, German is also supported by the state of development in accordance with Art. 2 Z 8.

(3) The travel and representation costs of kindergarten teachers, which are incurred as part of the special qualification measures, will not be borne by the Federal Government's special purpose grant.

(4) If the agreement does not enter into force for a country or a number of countries, the share of the Federal Government's special purpose grant shall be increased for the other countries in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1, recalculating the distribution key.

Article 5

Concept Template

(1) In order to present the agreed use of the purpose grant, the respective country shall submit to the Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and External Affairs a concept for the respective year of the kindergarten, which shall contain the following:

1.		a specific definition of the content of the implementation of early language support and, where appropriate, the promotion of the state of development in accordance with the requirements,
2.		information on the use of staff,
3.		Information on the sites,
4.		a financial plan,
5.		Information on the language assessment procedures.

The concept has to be in line with the presentation in Annex A.

(2) Each country has to submit its concept for the 2015/16 kindergarten year to the Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Outer Affairs with the contents according to Art. 5 (1) to 30 June 2015.

(3) Each country shall submit to the Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Exterior Concepts for the Kindergartenyears 2016/17 and 2017/18 with the contents in accordance with Art. 5 (1) to 30 April of each year.

Article 6

Reporting and invoicing of the Federal Government's purpose grant

(1) The Länder shall submit a final report to the Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and External Affairs by 31 December of each year, the last of which is 31 December 2018. In addition to the accounting of the preceding kindergarten year in which the early language support and, where appropriate, the development of the state of development have taken place, the following information shall be included:

1.		the total number of children in institutional childcare facilities in which support measures have been carried out, the number of children receiving support with a fixed language support, broken down by first language and age, and the number of children receiving support; Number of children eligible under Article 2 Z 8, broken down by development area in accordance with the criteria set out in the template in Annex A,
2.		the total number of institutional childcare facilities, as well as the number of institutional childcare facilities in which the support measures have been implemented, with the number of kindergarten teachers and the number of childcare workers, other qualified staff for the implementation of the support measures, the full-time equivalents of kindergarten pedagogues and other qualified staff, as well as the full-time equivalents used for early language support, and the was actually spent on early language support hours,
3.		the anonymized results as well as a comparative anonymized evaluation of the language status findings carried out in accordance with Article 3 (3), from which, at any rate, an impact factor of the early linguistic support of the children, which is carried out, is have been given early language support, must be readable.

The final report shall be in accordance with the presentation in Annex B. On the federal side, the Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs has been appointed to decide on the settlement.

In duly justified exceptional cases, the Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and External Affairs may grant a Fridate extension of up to two months at the request of the Federal State for reasons of factual reasons.

(2) Special purpose grants from the Federal Government, which are not settled in a kindergarten year, can be used in the following year of the kindergarten and are to be billed together with the means of this year's kindergarten year.

(3) The country has to reimburse the Federal Government's amount for the respective year of the kindergarten to the extent that it is in the kindergarten year concerned.

1.		the country does not comply with the obligations imposed by Article 5 and Article 6; or
2.		a negative evaluation result pursuant to Art. 9 is available.

(4) In the event of a number of breaches of duty for the refund,

1.		in the case of paragraph 3 (1), repay the total amount of the amount to be paid,
2.		in the case referred to in paragraph 3 (2), repay the amount corresponding to the appropriations of the measure which has not been agreed in accordance with the agreement.

(5) Several restitution amounts may be added only to the extent that they do not exceed the total amount of the purpose grant.

(6) Purpose grants which cannot be settled by the end of the period of validity of the agreement pursuant to Art. 12 shall be reimbursed to the Federal Government by the respective country.

Article 7

Adaptation of laws

The federal and state regulations necessary for the implementation of this agreement are to be put into effect until the latest 30 November 2015.

Article 8

Federal payments

(1) The purpose of the Federal Government pursuant to Article 4 (1) shall, in accordance with the criteria set out in Article 5 and Article 6, be directed to the account to be disclosed by the Land in two installers for the respective year of the kindergarten as follows:

1.		The first instalment is half of the specific purpose subsidy per country and will be ordered in October.
2.		The second instalment is half of the specific purpose subsidy per country and will be dependent on each March.

(2) In the event of payment, any repayment obligations may be imposed (Art. 6 (3) to (4)).

(3) The payment shall be made by the Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs.

Article 9

Evaluation and Controlling

(1) The use of the purpose-subsidy referred to in Article 4 shall be evaluated, taking the following steps:

1.		The concepts listed in Art. 5 are examined by the Austrian Integration Fund and approved by the Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and External Affairs.
2.		The final reports referred to in Art. 6 are examined by the Austrian Integration Fund and presented as an evaluation report summarised by the Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and External Affairs, which approves the final reports.
3.		In addition to Z 1 and 2, the Federal Ministry of Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs reserves the right to have the Austrian Integration Fund perform in advance of the Hospitations in the kindergartens to be announced in advance, and Take note of the accounts in accordance with Art. 6.

(2) In the event of a negative result of the verifications referred to in paragraph 1 (1) and (2), the Federal Ministry of Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs shall inform the respective country of the possibility of the documents referred to in paragraph 1 (1) (1) (1) and (2) (2) To supplement a period of four weeks and to give its opinion on this. If the country does not comply with this request or if the examination again results in a negative audit result, the Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs reserves the right to retain the respective rates. A negative result of the evaluations shall be provided if:

1.		the intended grant was not used in accordance with the procedure, or
2.		the concepts as well as final reports contradict the templates or do not contain the minimum content of the content (Art. 5 and Art. 6 (1)).

[0050] A non-widthwise use is in particular present if there are no or insufficient determination of speech status (Art. 3 (3) (3) (1) and (2)) or the early language support does not correspond to the "educational standards for speaking and language competence at the beginning of compulsory education" (Art. 3 (3) (3) (3).

Article 10

Transitional clause

Expenditure within the meaning of Article 4 (1), which shall apply in the period 1. From January 2015 to August 31, 2015, the agreement can be settled under this agreement. These are to be taken into account in a separate interim report by 31 December 2015.

Article 11

entry into force

(1) This Agreement shall enter into force with the first of the following month after the end of that day, in which:

1.		the conditions for entry into force required by the Federal constitution are met; and
2.		at the Federal Chancellery, the notification of at least one country for the fulfilment of the conditions necessary for the entry into force of the country's constitution, shall enter into force between the Federal Government and the Länder, the communications of which shall take effect until the end of the the day at which the conditions of Z 1 and 2 have occurred. By way of derogation, Article 10, as soon as the conditions laid down in Z 1 and 2 have been met, shall be retroactive with 1. Jänner 2015 in force.

(2) Long after the end of the day on which the conditions set out in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Z 1 and 2 have occurred, notifications of other countries concerning the fulfilment of the conditions necessary for the entry into force of the Federal Chancellery required under the national constitutions , the agreement shall enter into force in relation to those countries with the first of the following month after the date of receipt of the notification in question, Article 10, however, retroactively with 1. Jänner 2015.

(3) After 31 August 2015, the conditions for the entry into force of the agreement can no longer be fulfilled.

(4) The Federal Chancellery has to inform the Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs and the Länder of the fulfilment of the conditions laid down in paragraph 1 and the date of entry into force.

Article 12

Duration

This agreement applies to three kindergarten years pursuant to Art. 4 (1) and runs until the end of the 2017/18 kindergarten year. After a positive decision on the final report for the 2017/18 kindergarten year, which is to be submitted in accordance with Art. 6, the agreement will be repeal by the Federal Ministry of Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs.

Article 13

Original

This Agreement shall be drawn up in a single original. The original text will be deposited with the Federal Chancellery. This has to transmit certified copies of the agreement to all the contracting parties.

Pursuant to Art. 11 (1) and (2) of the Agreement, the Agreement is between the Federal Government and the Länder of Carinthia and Salzburg with 1 July 2015, Art. 10, however, retroactively with 1. January 2015, and vis-à-vis the countries of Burgenland, Niederösterreich, Oberösterreich, Steiermark, Tirol, Vorarlberg and Vienna with 1 August 2015, Art. 10 but retroactive with 1. Jänner 2015, entered into force.

Ostermayer

Annexes:

Appendix A Concept Template Art. 15a B-VG according to Art. 5

(Note: Appendix A concept template is documented as a PDF.)

Annex B Final report Art. 15a B-VG according to Art. 6

(Note: Annex B Final report is documented as a PDF.)